Penguin Pool Murder

Hildegarde Withers #1

by Stuart Palmer

A trip to the New York Aquarium leads spinster sleuth Hildegarde Withers into an investigation into the murder of Wall Street broker Gerald Lester, whose body is found floating in the pool of the Galapagos penguins

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Classics, Historical, Crime, Cozy

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

About the author

Pseudonyms Theodore Orchards, Jay Stewart

Stuart Palmer (1905–1968) was an American author of mysteries. Born in Baraboo, Wisconsin, Palmer worked a number of odd jobs—including apple picking, journalism, and copywriting—before publishing his first novel, the crime drama Ace of Jades, in 1931. It was with his second novel, however, that he established his writing career: The Penguin Pool Murder introduced Hildegarde Withers, a schoolmarm who, on a field trip to the New York Aquarium, discovers a dead body in the pool. Withers was an immensely popular character, and went on to star in thirteen more novels, including Miss Withers Regrets (1947) and Nipped in the Bud (1951). A master of intricate plotting, Palmer found success writing for Hollywood, where several of his books, including The Penguin Pool Murder, were filmed by RKO Pictures Inc.

Reviews

[Zain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprise!

Hildegarde Withers visits the aquarium with her students. She finds a big surprise in the penguin pool.

There is a dead man floating in the pool. How did he get there? Who is he? Who is the murderer?

These are just a few of the questions Hildegarde asks.

[Anissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this classic mystery story of third-grade teacher (considered a spinster of her time) who is involved in a case of a dead man in a penguin pool. This moved at a good pace and the trajectory of who did the murder was well done. The murderer was well played and I really liked finding out the Why more than anything else because it made the whole thing quite elaborate on their part. And that made for a very good reveal and courtroom showdown.

This was the first I've read by Stuart Palmer and I'd read another in this series. Also points to the very neat cover. Recommended.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a teacher myself; therefore, I am admittedly inclined to love the no-nonsense Miss Hildegarde Withers, a third-grade teacher at Jefferson School in New York City just months after the 1929 Stock Market Crash. However, you don't have to be a schoolteacher to fall in love with Miss Withers!

The novel begins with Miss Withers and her overly enthusiastic charges on a field trip at the New York Aquarium. While there, Miss Withers -- unflappable, clever, acerbic and observant -- foils a purse snatching and then forcefully introduces herself into a murder investigation. Miss Withers and a student find the victim, an unsavory and possibly unscrupulous stockbroker by the name of Gerald Lester, in the penguin exhibit. Teaming up with the investigating police officer, the cigar-chomping Inspector Piper, Miss Withers proves herself more than his equal in ferreting out the facts of the case and the identity of the murder.

The Penguin Pool Murder reminds one of the filmed version of Dashiell Hammett's The Thin Man or a Noël Coward play. The witty dialogue and pitch-perfect characters create a sparkling book evocative of the 1920s and 1930s. How is it that Miss Withers isn't more well known? She certainly ranks up with there with Roderick Alleyn, Lord Peter Whimsey, Miss Maud Silver, and Albert Campion -- all of whom are much, much more celebrated.

Published in 1931, the slim novel is firmly grounded in the period. While just in her 30s, Miss Hildegarde is already deemed a spinster. Lester's beautiful wife, Gwen, emerges as a blonde narcissist who uses men without an afterthought. Police routinely and openly beat confessions out of suspects in a time where "the third degree" isn't just an idiom for intensive questioning. Inspector Piper calls secretaries and receptionists "baby" and "girl" with the casual sexism of the era. The country is lurching into what will become known as the Great Depression. But the novel never feels dated, and Miss Withers never seems the least bit archaic. Instead, the reader will feel Miss Withers' joyous excitement at the chance to take part in the murder investigation and her well-founded sense of confidence. As she puts it while sparring with the hard-headed Inspector Piper:

I'm having the time of my life. And I tell you for your own good that some person like me, who doesn't look at all like a detective, could find out more in ten minutes from most people than any three of your operatives.

This is the first in a mystery series by Stuart Palmer. How wonderful that the prolific Palmer penned 19 more adventures for Miss Withers!

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written in 1938, the murder mystery is solved by a grade school teacher and police inspector. There are so many rules broken that allow people to tamper with evidence, that it makes it difficult to read for the mind in 2011. You can't help reading it and thinking, you can't allow that Inspector!

The writing seems to play to the heart as much as to someone hoping to read a mystery story. I would say this falls under the category-- Romantic/Mystery writing typical of the 20's through 40's.

[Jan C · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I've seen the movie too many times. Amazing how close it stuck to the book.

I read the Rue Morgue Press reprint. Received it several years ago before it came out on Kindle. Originally published in 1931 and meant to take place shortly after the beginning of the Crash in '29.
In the edition I have there is a little blurb in front, after the Cast of Characters, about Stuart Palmer. Who knew that Miss Withers was partially based on Edna May Oliver, plus a librarian he had known. And he was from the circus town of Baraboo, Wisconsin.

The Crash figures largely in this story. Gerald Lester has a fixed up marriage with Gwen, his partner's daughter. Never any love there. And it appears he may have a thing with his secretary (I think they cut her out of the movie). And the daughter had a thing with an aspiring lawyer that Daddy didn't quite approve of. These three - Lester, Mrs. Lester and the lawyer all meet up at the Aquarium one day, along with Miss Withers and her "Grade Number Three", along with a number of other people. But they won't all be leaving. Lester, the questionable stock broker, will wind up in the pool with the penguin (The title kind of gives that away).

Inspector Oscar Piper shows up and somehow Miss Withers tags along with him, taking notes, insinuating herself into the case.

An entertaining read.

I only had one question: didn't taxis get tipped in those days? Miss Withers comes across a clue of a cab receipt that says "$1.75 - pay no more". So I'm wondering if they weren't tipped in those days. Not sure if that's the kind of minutiae that Google would have an answer for. And the vast majority of the people who could answer that question are gone now.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

A fun Golden Age mystery, even if I did figure it out about halfway through.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I took a chance on this book; The Penguin Pool Murder by Stuart Palmer, the first Hildegarde Withers #1 book. My wife and I had seen the movie based on the book (well, we watched the 1st half... that should have told me something).

Hildegarde Withers is a school teacher in New York. We meet her as she is escorting a class of 3rd graders through an aquarium. A pickpocket is discovered and Miss Withers trips him up with her faithful umbrella. She then discovers that she's lost her hat pin and sends the children scurrying about trying to find it. What they find instead is a body floating in the penguin pool.

This begins a fluffy, somewhat silly cozy mystery. Police investigator Piper takes Miss Withers under his wing for some reason as he investigates the murder of Wall Street broker Gerald Lester. It seems that Miss Withers hat pin had something to do with the murder. There are 4 suspects; Lester's wife, her onetime beau David Seymour; a lawyer who seems to have instigated himself into the scene, Mr. Costello; and the director of the aquarium, Mr. Hemingway.

There is an investigation of sorts; in the great tradition of Eliot Stabler of Law & Order: SVU, every person is immediately guilty and locked up in the Tombs. Great leaps of logic, clues ignored, yada yada... The best part is the court case itself, which is short and sweet. The series was very popular in its day as were the movies. I may eventually try to find a copy of the 2nd book, but I won't rush to it. (2.0 stars)

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

To a greater or lesser extent, I have enjoyed every book I have read from the American Mystery Classic series. This book is no exception. We are introduced to Miss Hildegarde Withers, part time 3rd grade school teacher, part time amateur sleuth. Somehow, she feels much older than her 39 years, perhaps because women were considered spinsters at that age in the 1930s. But despite her prudish exterior, she is a hopeless romantic at heart, and strives to exonerate the young couple accused of the titular murder. Golden Age murder mystery at its best, and a great introduction to a series long character. The movie of the same name, starring Edna Mae Oliver, is also fantastic.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't usually pick the murderer out of the gate, but I did in this one. Not a bad one, but SP is clearly still hitting his stride with Ms. Withers & co - it's not as smart or atmospheric as The Puzzle of the Red Stallion. I'll definitely keep going in the series, though!

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

There and a half stars. This was a solid period piece that I heard about on an episode of the excellent podcast Shedunnit. I couldn’t resist a mystery that involved penguins AND a third grade teacher stopping crime while leading children on a field trip. I’m glad I read it, particularly because Hildegard Withers was not a character I had heard of before. It was interesting to read the introduction and think about how quickly a character and author that had a firm place in the mystery pantheon can slip out of the public consciousness. I suppose I’m giving it only three and a half stars because it was so very of its time. The messy, sloppy procedure in the procedural, the (highly unnecessary) stereotypes and dialogue in “humorous dialect” … it was all a little much, especially without any super tight plotting or interesting twists to counterbalance it. I liked Miss Withers, but honestly, both she and the other characters did seem a bit “cardboard” (a term the author used in a quote from the introduction). I wouldn’t be opposed to reading more from this series, but I’m also happy with this brief interaction with a bit of past pop culture.

[Jazz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, though somewhat dated, mystery, but still very enjoyable. It took me a while to warm up to the main character, Hildegarde Withers, mainly because I recalled the old movies in which she is played by Edna May Oliver. I had trouble squaring that image with the character in the book, where she is described as 39 years old—nowhere near as old as that actor was, nor quite as prim. In a later movie, Eve Arden played her and I found her much closer to how I envisioned Hildegarde, a teacher, who has taken her 3rd-graders to the NY Aquarium on the particular day when a murder is committed in the Penguin Pool. Miss Withers is insinuated into the case by the loss of her hatpin and works with Inspector Piper, a cigar-chomping, slang-talking detective with NYPD, to solve the case. If traditional mystery readers keep in mind the Depression-era in which this was written, and don't judge it by today's culture, they will enjoy it much more. There's a bit of a clever locked-room element touched on, and the courtroom resolution/reveal by Miss Withers doesn't disappoint.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I stumbled upon this series after seeing one of the film adaptations, and at least based on the one book in the series I’ve read, I’m surprised this 1930s mystery series is not better remembered today.
Hildegard Withers, spinster teacher, is on a field trip with her students at the aquarium when she witnesses a murder. More preciously: She sees the body of a dead man drop into the penguin tank.

Smart, resourceful, and having an interest in mysteries, Hildegard is eager to help the police. What makes this book interesting is that Oscar Piper, the police inspector assigned to the case, doesn’t dismiss Hildegard but quickly sees her value, and the two partner up for the investigation.

I loved that the police officer didn’t dismiss the amateur, which is the common thread in most mystery books and results in the amateur sleuth going off on her (or his) own. A fun one for fans of the golden age of mysteries – and it’s nice to read one set in New York rather than somewhere in England (no offense to the many delightful mysteries set in 1920s and ’30s England). Recommended.

[Eden · Rating 5 out of 5]

2023 bk 249. This book was dated the first time I read it - back in the late 1960's/early 1970's. It is even more dated now - but still a fun mystery. All teachers who have been on field trips will empathize with Miss Hildegarde as a trip to the Aquarium results in her student and herself discovery of a body in a tank. This is the most thrilling thing to happen to Hildegarde since she began teaching and she takes the opportunity to help the Police Detective unravel they mystery involving the Stock Market Crash of 1929, forlorn love, and revenge. Most satisfying ending. - And if you think this could never happen to a class on a field trip - My mother's first year as a teacher involved a field trip to the neighboring park to collect leaves, until one young girl tugged at her skirt and asked "Why is that man floating in the pond." Yep - a body found by 1st graders on a field trip.

[Heatherinblack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well done mystery

I am perplexed by all these couples in murder mystery series who fall in love over one case. Of course, perhaps, I just have a fear of commitment. Ms. Withers is one smart cookie and knows how to trip up a murderer.

[Karmakosmik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un giallo carino, ma che però non mi ha mai veramente entusiasmato. A parte l'esotica scena del crimine, la vasca dei pinguini del titolo, la trama non riesce mai a decollare veramente, la signorina Withers oscilla tra l'anonimo ed il simpatico, mentre gli unici personaggi che hanno un minimo di profondità sono l'ispettore Piper e l'avvenente avvocato Costello. Il colpevole si può intuire piuttosto facilmente, ma il colpo di scena finale ottiene comunque il suo effetto. Sufficiente.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so I ended up going down a google rabbit hole after Zasu Pitts (it started with a search about Von Stroheim's "Greed") and came across the series of films based on this series of books (Pitts took over the role from Edna Mae Oliver). Found the first in the series at the library and decided to try it. Lots of fun, taking place just a month after the Stock Market Crash. And I figured out who the murderer was within pages of their appearance in the book, but that didn't matter to me. Fun to read a 90-year-old book.

[Martha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this pretty dated and the characters seemed cliched. After two or three chapters I skipped to the end, read the last chapter or two, and felt I had experienced this book fully enough.

[Izzati · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Put a schoolteacher with a fondness for funky hats with her students in a public aquarium where a thief was making a run, and a discovery of a corpse in a penguin pool and you have the start of this book. Also the beginning of the adventures of the curious no-nonsense Hildegrade Withers in this witty mystery series.

I enjoyed this one quite a lot, except the broker part (just a personal taste). I thought it was cheeky, fun and exciting. It reminded me of Miss Marple, if she was a younger woman (younger and not young because in this book a 39 year old was described as middle aged!).

Initially, I was rather apprehensive about the author's ability to not sound like a chauvinist while using a woman as his main protagonist. I thought he represented the characters pretty well. I look forward to reading more in the series.

[Leandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Tom Klarquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book of the year was a mystery from the 30's. It was a fun read -- it is the first in a series of books involving Hildegarde Withers -- a spinster school teacher who is present at a murder and ends up assisting the investigator to find the killer.
Good pace and had good characterization.
I will no doubt be reading other books in the series.

[Cecilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun quick read.

[Calum Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish this was better than it is, but it really isn't much more than passable. Lesser mystery novels rely on convoluted reveals, and often on convoluted explanations that rest on the exact geography of settings that have never been adequately evoked, or the precise movements of characters that have never come remotely alive. This is one of those - it is filled with incident and much marching about, but the mystery is perfunctory and increasingly un-mysterious. Miss Withers might have a certain charm, but even that's mishandled - no amateur detective schoolteacher called Hildegarde Withers in a hokey old mystery novel has any business being merely 39 years old. A nice title and an appealing set-up, but the book itself does not deliver.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and interesting murder mystery. I had seen the 1932 movie version and enjoyed it very much, so picked up the book. It has been long enough that I didn’t recall the ‘mystery’ so I wasn’t ahead of the game. Things that I appreciate about this story: The protagonist is female, smart, middle aged and appreciated for what she is. The story, though light, brings forward difficult issues. Primarily, the idea of ‘true justice’ vs the sometimes different values of the police & legal system. Additionally, it touches on the financial system in our country. It is set shortly after the stock market crash of 1929 and also written at that time — so historically quite an interesting perspective. What I didn’t appreciate: a minor positive character was always referred to by his racial identity, when nothing and no one else had any reference to race. I get the feeling it was meant to be positive, but to my modern sensibilities it felt icky.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dated but still an entertaining read - you can even watch the film on you tube if it takes your fancy. And Hildergarde is a most worthy sleuth.

[Zain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

I’m sorry but I’m unable to separate the fact that I am reading a book from when the laws of this country was different.

[Linda Dotson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down

This book was so well written, I felt immersed in the story and that these characters were real. Stuart Palmer drew a wonderful picture for me of Miss Withers and the Inspector. The plot was well thought out and executed with an exciting surprise ending. Great fun!

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book where Palmer introduces his spinster schoolteacher sleuth Hildegarde Withers as well as Inspector Piper.

The plot concerns the murder of a stockbroker in a downtown aquarium and it's a blast following the investigation as the limited field of suspects and their possible motives are put under the microscope.

While the villain isn't that hard to spot, and I reckon most readers will have worked out who it is before the big reveal at the end, the time spent in the company of Miss Withers and Piper is such a joy that it hardly matters.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I sussed out both the murderer and motive pretty easily, I still really enjoyed this entry. It's the first in the series and I liked the main characters - a spinster school teacher and a very indulgent cop - quite a bit. Will definitely read more in the series.

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Someitmes I can figure out whodunnit, but not this time...I was as surprised as all the characters were. Great read!!